3 Natural Gas Dividend Stocks - 36059 views

SAN FRANCISCO (Stockerblog) -- On Monday, it was announced that billionaire trader and investor Carl Icahn increased his stake in Chesapeake Energy (CHK) from 16.6 million shares to 38.6 million shares, an increase of over 132%. This announcement set off a buying frenzy, causing the stock to jump almost 9% during the day. Of course, Chesapeake trades at 9.8 times forward earnings and is one of the natural gas utilities that pays a yield, giving its investors a payout of 1.3%.

For example, Atmos Energy (ATO) is a Dallas-based distributor of natural gas that yields 4.3%. As a matter of fact, the company, which has increased its dividend every year since 1989, just increased its payout from 33.5 cents per quarter to 34 cents per quarter. The stock has a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13 and recently reported a 20.9% increase in revenues.

TransCanada (TRP), based in Alberta, is a natural gas distributor with a dividend payout of 4.2%. It is also involved in electrical generation. The stock trades at 16 times forward earnings, with earnings rising for the latest quarter 13.3% on a 3.9% rise in revenues.

Northwest Natural Gas (NWN), which distributes gas in Washington, Oregon and California, yields 3.7%. The stock has a forward P/E of 16.7. Revenues was down 18.6% for the latest quarter.

At the time of publication, author had no positions in stocks mentioned.

Fred Fuld III, the publisher of stock and bond investing blog Stockerblog and founder of WallStreetNewsNetwork, has been in the financial services industry for over 20 years, working as an investment advisor, options market maker at the Pacific Stock Exchange, vice president of a San Francisco money management firm, university faculty member and wholesaler for the New Alternatives Fund (the first environmentally conscious mutual fund). He is the author of the books Investing in Brazil Stocks and The Green Light on Green Stocks.